Developer Agrees To Install Traffic Sign

July 3, 2002|By Beth Feinstein-Bartl Special Correspondent

PEMBROKE PINES — To keep motorists from confusing the entrance to Interstate 75 with a city street, the developer of a car dealership will install a sign that will help direct traffic near its property.

AutoNation/Maroone Group, which will build a Mercedes-Benz dealership on a vacant parcel on the northeastern corner of Northwest 142nd Avenue and Pines Boulevard, will install the sign as a stipulation for getting its construction plans approved. The business, just east of I-75, will be adjacent to a Dodge dealership, also owned by AutoNation/Maroone Group.

City commissioners recently gave unanimous approval to the Mercedes-Benz dealership plan. The project will include a 43,691-square-foot building for new car sales and for servicing cars, and a 3,000-square-foot building for used car sales.

Commissioner Susan Katz requested a sign marking the right turn onto Northwest 142nd Avenue because too many people are confusing the roadway with the northbound entrance to I-75.

"My personal feeling is that there needs to be a traffic light there," she said. "But I'm told it's too close to I-75."

Northwest 142nd Avenue is the last street drivers heading west on Pines Boulevard encounter before the I-75 north entrance, said City Engineer Taj Siddiqui.

"People driving along Pines Boulevard are always turning right onto 142nd Avenue, thinking it is the on-ramp to go north on I-75," Siddiqui said. "Then they have to turn around and go back."

The city and the Florida Department of Transportation recently installed two signs on Pines Boulevard, both about 12-by-18 inches, that direct motorists to the 142nd Avenue turnoff, Siddiqui said.

DOT also installed a larger sign, 2-by-2-foot, with an arrow pointing to I-75 north. All three signs were installed in the past six months, Siddiqui said.

The state also has painted two large arrows on the westbound lanes of Pines Boulevard that point to I-75, he said.

"In spite of all these signs, people are still turning [onto 142nd Avenue]," Siddiqui said.

City officials hope the additional sign to be provided by AutoNation will eliminate some of the confusion, he said.

AutoNation has agreed to provide a 4-by 4-foot sign, the maximum size allowed, at the northeastern corner of the intersection. The sign will say, "Next Right 142nd Avenue," Siddiqui said.

The sign will be designed by the developer and must be approved by the state, he said.

"Something needs to be done," Katz said. "It's not a good intersection."